Chapter Two

Stuart woke up before James or Carter and went to work in the same clothes from the night before, so he never ventured into his own bedroom, never seeing two very naked men curled up into each other in his bed. Carter strutted into the office an hour later, James right behind, the two pretending to look like they met in front of the building and decided to walk in together.

Stuart stood from his desk to greet his friend with a naughty looking smile.

"Well, well. Looks like someone got lucky last night!" Stuart slapped Carter on the back. Nikki looked up from her desk with raised eyebrows. Mike walked out of his office when he heard Stuart.

"Who got lucky?" he questioned loudly.

"Carter!" Stuart jumped in before Carter could say anything else. James hung his head over what he was writing to try and hide his flushed cheeks.

"Really? Anyone we know?" Mike laughed and everyone joined in. Carter pretended to laugh along and James said nothing. Nikki stood cautiously.

"Can I borrow your office a moment, Mike? I need to discuss something with Carter and James."

"Do you need me there?" Mike went for the door.

"No. We're fine." Nikki shook her head and James stood from his desk and followed, Carter close behind. Nikki called out a warning to anyone listening. "If anyone is caught listening through the door…" she ominously trailed off and shut the door. Once they were all inside, Nikki leaning against the desk and Carter and James standing a few feet apart. "So… anything to say?"

"No." Carter said quickly and James continued to say nothing. Nikki narrowed her eyes and looked from either man.

"James? Can I talk to Carter alone a minute?" she asked and James immediately complied and walked out. "So Carter… what hap…"

"We had sex." Carter blurted out and sat heavily on the couch. Nikki swallowed and sucked on her teeth before sitting down next to him.

"Was that supposed to make me laugh so we could break the ice here?" she prayed.

"I'm afraid not." Carter sighed just as heavily as he sat down.

"You and James… did it?" she pointed to Carter and then out the door.

"Yeah."

"Wow… okay. So what's the problem?"

"I don't know. You're the one who wanted to talk."

"I know… I know." Nikki stared at her lap before looking up again. "So… what do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do or what should I do?" Carter laughed before clearing his throat.

"How about both?"

"I should talk to him and tell him it was just being drunk and all of that…" he trailed off and blinked. Nikki smiled slightly.

"and what do you want to do?"

"I want… I want to do it again." He admitted.

(----)

Outside the office, James jumped back slightly at what he heard.

"You alright?" Stacey looked up.

"Yeah, yeah. I got a shock is all."

"Static, huh?" Stacey shook her head and went back to what she was doing. A minute later, Nikki walked out of Mike's office and looked at James, nodding into the room. He understood and slowly walked in, closing the door behind him. Mike approached Nikki.

"Do I get my office back yet?"

"Nope."

"Oh… okay then." Mike put his hands in his pockets and looked to the closed door before he walked away.

(----)

"James…" Carter began, but James interrupted by putting up his hand.

"I heard… through the door." He sighed and sat on the couch self-consciously. He really did look uncomfortable and a little scared even. Carter felt bad and sat down next to James. "What… happened?" he finally uttered.

"Well, we had…"

"I know that happened. I meant what… exactly are we going to do?"

"We have two options. We could pretend this never happened which could be awkward in the office or… we could try to continue this which could still be awkward in the office, but maybe less so if it goes well." Carter waited for an answer and was starting to grow impatient until he placed his hand under the other man's chin and brought his face up to eye level. The first thing he saw were silent tears falling. "What's the matter?"

"I just… when we were falling asleep last night… I was thinking and I realized how much I… I… liked it. I'm a little worried to keep going but… I don't want to stop. I'm just… really confused." James let out a shuddered sigh as he tried to hold in tears.

"I don't know what to say."

"Here. I have an idea. Kiss me."

"What?"

"Kiss me. If we both react in the same way as last night then we can try to keep going. If neither, or one, us don't react at all then… well… you know. We'd know it was just the large consumption of alcohol and we'll never speak of this again." James faced Carter. Carter couldn't think of a better idea so he agreed. The moved closer in and leaned closer. They let their lips brush slightly before going in for the real thing. Their lips parted almost on impulse and connected with the static Stacey had mentioned earlier. It was almost as if they refused to part and when they did, they stared at each other.

"I guess that's settled then." Carter threw his hands in the air. "Agreed?"

"Yeah. Want to go for drinks later?"

"Fine."

(----)

Later that afternoon, Carter was unsuccessfully trying to get work done. The only thing that continued to go through his mind was the night before. It just rolled over and over like a stuck record and it was driving him nuts. If he felt this way now, how would he feel a few days from now? His thoughts were interrupted by Stuart walking up to him, smiling.

"Did you have Trix for breakfast this morning?"

"Why?" Carter turned to face Stuart, laying the papers he was copying alone.

"Because it's the fruity part of a complete breakfast of course!" he laughed. Carter glared.

"You're running out of ideas, aren't you?" he monotonously stated and picked up the stack of papers and walked out. Stuart followed right behind.

"Am not. I'm saving the best ones for later."

"Sure you are." Carter rolled his eyes.

"But really, you do look like you got lucky last night? Did you go somewhere else? We were waiting for you to join us and you never showed up." Stuart paused behind his desk, Carter on the other side. "Come to think of it, neither did James…" Stuart's eyes widened. "You guys didn't…?"

"Ew, no!" Carter lied. "After what happened he just decided to go home. And yes, I did go to the wrong bar. But apparently it wasn't without disappointment." He placed the last stack of papers into a wire bin and Stuart raised his hands in surrender and sat down. "Anyway. I'm going to see this guy again."

"Really? That's a first."

"It is not!" Carter argued and turned when he saw James walk into the offices. He was glad James hadn't heard him say what he did. Especially the "ew" part. Because it was far from "ew".

"Hey, James!" Stuart called to the younger man's attention and Carter cursed under his breath. James walked over and stood next Carter, his arms crossed.

"What?" he asked a little more harshly than he had meant.

"Didja hear? Carter got lucky last night!" he laughed. James paused a moment and swallowed, uncrossing his arms.

"Is… is that so? What did he say about it huh?" James looked to Carter instead of at Stuart. For a moment, he feared Carter had been telling everyone. He relaxed slightly at Stuart answer.

"Just that it was without disappointment of any kind and that he's planning on seeing this guy again." Stuart twirled his pen around and the three were silent. Carter finally spoke.

"James. I need you to help me with fixing some paperwork." He tilted his head in the direction of an empty room. James sighed, but trailed behind. Stuart was oblivious and paid no attention to what room they walked into.

(----)

Carter closed the door carefully and took his time staring at James before speaking.

"You thought I told him, didn't you?"

"That thought did cross my mind, yes." James kicked at the floor.

"I'm not going to tell! We both agreed we were going to keep this silent and that's what I'm going to do."

"I'm sorry." James continued to kick at the floor, his head down.

"Look." Carter moved closer. "We'll be leaving soon. We'll go out, have a couple drinks… just relax."

"Okay." James smiled. Carter turned to open the door, but James grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. Without giving Carter a chance to speak, he planted a soft, quick kiss on his lips.

"What was that for?"

"I'm not sure. Carter… I think I need help." James laughed and Carter joined in. It was kind of cramped in there and warm. Oh so VERY warm. Carter figured he was the one who needed help. It wasn't often (try, let's say, NEVER) that he had a terrible addicting infatuation with a presumably straight man. He couldn't see James being gay. He liked supermodels for goodness sake! So all that left was the possibility he was bi and didn't know it up until now. But Carter knew how difficult it was to find a guy around town with his busy schedule so he figured he didn't really care.

(----)

Nikki approached Mike and Stacey five or so minutes after James and Carter had walked into the empty room.

"Have either of you seen James or Carter?"

"No."

"Nope. Haven't seen them. They've been acting a little weird all day, you think?" Stacey put her pencil down and looked up at her two co-workers.

"I guess so, yeah." Nikki did her best job at pretending she had no idea what was going on. She turned and saw Carter emerge from a small office and look cautiously around, James peeked out afterwards. Nikki got the attention of Mike and Stacey away from Carter's direction. After she was sure the coast was clear she moved toward James who was standing near his desk.

"Hey Nikki, what's up?" James asked nonchalantly.

"What were you two doing in there?" she raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"Just talking."

"Sure you were." Nikki crossed her arms and smiled amusedly. She leaned in and whispered in James' ear. "Barn door's open, tiger." She patted his arm and walked away. James looked around before quickly pulling up his zipper and sitting down.